Work Stress Anxiety | Burnout Prevention & Work Anxiety Help

Cheryl Paris | Work Stress & Burnout Specialist
  • 5.0 (22)
  • Mental Health
  • Weekly

Work Stress Anxiety is a weekday podcast for high-achieving women dealing with work stress, work anxiety, burnout and emotional exhaustion. Hosted by Cheryl Paris, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Stress Recovery Coach, it blends real stories, nervous-system education and practical strategies to help you understand what is happening under workplace pressure and what to do next. No resilience theatre. No pretending a breathing exercise fixes a dysfunctional workplace. Just practical, reality-first support for burnout prevention.

  1. 1d ago

    What If Sustainable Success Never Requires Self Sacrifice And Stress

    Your work stress is not only about the workload. It is also about the moment your brain decides something is urgent and quietly pushes you into panic, people pleasing, or overcommitting. We sit down with Paula to unpack a deceptively simple tool that changes everything: asking “What am I wanting?” instead of “What do I want?” That one-word shift brings you back to the present moment, reveals the real need driving the decision, and helps you choose a steadier next step. We also talk about why the awareness phase can feel hard for high achievers, and why facing reality is often the fastest path to real change. From there, we draw a clear line between true urgency and panic disguised as urgency. Think factual deadlines and real constraints versus fear-based stories like “What will they think if I say no?” We connect this to imposter syndrome, burnout recovery, boundaries, and choice mastery so you can reduce anxiety and build sustainable success at work. If you want practical stress management that respects ambition without rewarding self sacrifice, press play. Subscribe, share with a friend who is running on urgency addiction, and leave a review with the biggest insight you are taking into your next workday. Send us Fan Mail The contents of this podcast are for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. If you have a specific health concern or condition, please consult a qualified Healthcare professional for more details. Check out herguru dot uk forward slash disclaimers Support the show Got feedback, a question, or a future episode suggestion? https://podcastfeedback.com/workstressanxiety Work Stress Anxiety by ABGW is part of HerGuru Hypnotherapy and Coaching™ and grounded in the ABGW Method®. Calm first. Reality first. Then change.™ Connect with Cheryl Paris LinkedIn: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/linkedin  Facebook: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/Facebook Shared stories are anonymised. This podcast is provided for educational and self- reflective purposes only and does not constitute medical, psychological, legal, workplace, or professional advice. Disclaimer: https://herguru.uk/disclaimers/ © Cheryl Paris. Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.

    What If Sustainable Success Never Requires Self Sacrifice And Stress

  2. 2d ago

    Why Smart Women Make Worse Choices Under Stress

    You can know exactly what matters most, swear you’ll handle it differently this time, and still watch yourself default to the quickest, most familiar choice. That gap between what we intend and what we do is where work stress and anxiety quietly take over, especially for high-achieving women who are used to powering through. Paula joins me to explain why that “bad decision under pressure” is often your brain trying to protect you, not proof that you’re weak or undisciplined. We get specific about the neuroscience of decision-making under stress: how the prefrontal cortex (planning, strategy, emotion regulation) can shut down while the amygdala and basal ganglia ramp up threat response and habit loops. When your system is triggered, your brain reaches for what worked before, what is fastest, and what keeps you safe, even if it moves you away from your real goals. That understanding changes everything, because it replaces shame with clarity and opens the door to burnout prevention that actually works. From there, we talk about what helps you snap out of autopilot in real life. We explore why “pause” feels almost impossible for driven professionals, why surface-level stress management can become a band-aid, and Paula shares a practical four-step reset you can use to assess whether you’re being reactive, evaluate your response, choose a better option, and act in a way that rewires your defaults over time. We close with a word I want you to hold onto if you’re heading toward burnout: forgiveness. If this resonates, subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review so another quietly overwhelmed listener can find us. Send us Fan Mail The contents of this podcast are for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. If you have a specific health concern or condition, please consult a qualified Healthcare professional for more details. Check out herguru dot uk forward slash disclaimers Support the show Got feedback, a question, or a future episode suggestion? https://podcastfeedback.com/workstressanxiety Work Stress Anxiety by ABGW is part of HerGuru Hypnotherapy and Coaching™ and grounded in the ABGW Method®. Calm first. Reality first. Then change.™ Connect with Cheryl Paris LinkedIn: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/linkedin  Facebook: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/Facebook Shared stories are anonymised. This podcast is provided for educational and self- reflective purposes only and does not constitute medical, psychological, legal, workplace, or professional advice. Disclaimer: https://herguru.uk/disclaimers/ © Cheryl Paris. Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.

    Why Smart Women Make Worse Choices Under Stress

  3. 3d ago

    High Performers And The Hidden Path To Burnout: Reading Our Bodies Stress Signals

    Exhaustion can feel like proof you care, proof you’re committed, proof you’re “built for pressure” until your body stops cooperating. Cheryl Paris sits down with Paula to talk about the quiet moment when high achievement slips into depletion, and how easy it is for high performers to label warning signs as “just normal life”. Paula shares her own wake-up call, the kind that only makes sense in hindsight, when stress was no longer a mindset issue but a health issue.  We dig into why workplace stress and anxiety get normalised, especially among people who pride themselves on being capable. When everyone looks fine from the outside, it’s easy to assume you’re the only one struggling, then cover it with longer hours, skipped meals, poor sleep, and a relentless drive to keep delivering. We also explore leadership pressure and rapid promotions, how a chaos-fuelled style can impact teams, and why the habits that helped you succeed at one level often become unsustainable at the next.  A major theme is “overused strengths” the trap where problem solving, fixing, learning, and being the go-to person creates a dopamine rush, then slowly drains your capacity. Paula offers practical burnout prevention tools you can use immediately, including a quick self check-in and her “power pause” a single deep breath that resets the brain from reactive to proactive. If you want sustainable performance without sacrificing your health, press play, share this with a high achiever you care about, and subscribe or leave a review so more listeners can find the show. Send us Fan Mail The contents of this podcast are for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. If you have a specific health concern or condition, please consult a qualified Healthcare professional for more details. Check out herguru dot uk forward slash disclaimers Support the show Got feedback, a question, or a future episode suggestion? https://podcastfeedback.com/workstressanxiety Work Stress Anxiety by ABGW is part of HerGuru Hypnotherapy and Coaching™ and grounded in the ABGW Method®. Calm first. Reality first. Then change.™ Connect with Cheryl Paris LinkedIn: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/linkedin  Facebook: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/Facebook Shared stories are anonymised. This podcast is provided for educational and self- reflective purposes only and does not constitute medical, psychological, legal, workplace, or professional advice. Disclaimer: https://herguru.uk/disclaimers/ © Cheryl Paris. Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.

    High Performers And The Hidden Path To Burnout: Reading Our Bodies Stress Signals

  4. Oct 23

    Work Stress: When One Bad Workday Feels Like Your Whole Career

    Your weekend is calm, the kettle is on, and yet a part of you is already sitting in Monday’s meeting. That quiet dread can feel disproportionate, but it has a logic: anxiety zooms in on one moment at work until it blocks out everything else. I walk through how that happens, why it feels so convincing, and how to get your perspective back without pretending the problem was “fine.”  We talk about rumination and the way repeated thoughts can start to masquerade as evidence. Then we shift into a practical tool I use with clients: an evidence bank. Not a place to vent, but a record of facts you can trust when stress makes memory selective. With the wider frame, you can ask better questions: what else is true, what happened before and after, and are you looking at a one-off incident, a real pattern, or simply not enough information yet. I also share a simple image that captures the whole point: the obstacle may still be there, but it no longer has to be the entire landscape.  Just as importantly, we name what should never be reframed away, including bullying, discrimination, unsafe working practices, and repeated behaviour that harms you or others. Perspective is not passivity. Sometimes the wider view reassures you, and sometimes it confirms you need to document, escalate, or change something. Either way, accuracy gives you more choices.  If you find this helpful, subscribe, share it with someone whose Sunday is getting hijacked by work stress anxiety, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Send us Fan Mail The contents of this podcast are for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. If you have a specific health concern or condition, please consult a qualified Healthcare professional for more details. Check out herguru dot uk forward slash disclaimers Support the show Got feedback, a question, or a future episode suggestion? https://podcastfeedback.com/workstressanxiety Work Stress Anxiety by ABGW is part of HerGuru Hypnotherapy and Coaching™ and grounded in the ABGW Method®. Calm first. Reality first. Then change.™ Connect with Cheryl Paris LinkedIn: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/linkedin  Facebook: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/Facebook Shared stories are anonymised. This podcast is provided for educational and self- reflective purposes only and does not constitute medical, psychological, legal, workplace, or professional advice. Disclaimer: https://herguru.uk/disclaimers/ © Cheryl Paris. Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.

    Work Stress: When One Bad Workday Feels Like Your Whole Career

  5. Oct 19

    Experience vs Expertise at Work: Are You Actually Learning?

    “I’ve been doing this for twenty years.” It sounds like the end of the conversation, but we think it should be the start of a better one. We explore the uncomfortable gap between time served and learning gained, and why that gap quietly fuels work stress, anxiety, and those moments where you wonder if you’re the only one seeing what’s not working. We talk about experience as raw material and the kind of reflection that turns raw material into expertise: noticing patterns, taking feedback you did not enjoy, adjusting your approach, and letting go of assumptions that no longer fit. We also dig into how seniority and hierarchy can blur the picture, especially when the person with the “most experience” is your manager. You can respect someone’s years without treating their judgment as untouchable, and you do not have to silence your own observations just because someone outranks you. Then we bring AI into the mix. When artificial intelligence can produce flawless emails and polished presentations in minutes, sounding competent is cheap. What matters is what happens when reality pushes back: can someone rethink, repair, change course, and learn in public. We close with a small experiment you can run this week using one question that cuts through autopilot: what do you do differently now because of what happened last time? If this helps, subscribe, share it with a colleague who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Send us Fan Mail The contents of this podcast are for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. If you have a specific health concern or condition, please consult a qualified Healthcare professional for more details. Check out herguru dot uk forward slash disclaimers Support the show Got feedback, a question, or a future episode suggestion? https://podcastfeedback.com/workstressanxiety Work Stress Anxiety by ABGW is part of HerGuru Hypnotherapy and Coaching™ and grounded in the ABGW Method®. Calm first. Reality first. Then change.™ Connect with Cheryl Paris LinkedIn: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/linkedin  Facebook: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/Facebook Shared stories are anonymised. This podcast is provided for educational and self- reflective purposes only and does not constitute medical, psychological, legal, workplace, or professional advice. Disclaimer: https://herguru.uk/disclaimers/ © Cheryl Paris. Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.

    Experience vs Expertise at Work: Are You Actually Learning?

  6. Oct 15

    What If The Real Burnout Starts At Home

    You can be the person who “has it together” and still be one phone buzz away from falling apart. Cheryl Parris sits down with Janice Goldman to name the reality so many people live with quietly: caring for an aging parent while trying to keep your job, your focus, and your composure. That hidden second job does not start at 5pm and end at 9am, it runs under everything, turning ordinary workdays into a constant scan for risk, updates, and emergencies. We dig into why the well-meant phrase “Just tell me if you need anything” can actually add to the burden. When you are already overloaded, figuring out what to ask for becomes another task, another decision, another piece of emotional labour. Janice explains what supportive help looks like in practice: specific offers that reduce decision fatigue, create real relief, and give caregivers breathing room. We also talk about how caregiving begins, either through a slow build of small warning signs or through a sudden crisis like a stroke, and why early family conversations about wishes and plans can make an enormous difference. The discussion gets honest about cumulative grief, the stress of sitting in meetings while waiting for the phone to buzz, and the emotions caregivers often hide, including anger, guilt, dread, and grief for the relationship that has changed. You’ll leave with a simple, grounding takeaway: take two minutes to write down the worries and decisions you are carrying, not to solve them all, but to make the invisible load visible. If this resonates, subscribe, share this episode with someone carrying a similar load, and leave a review so more caregivers can find us. Send us Fan Mail The contents of this podcast are for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. If you have a specific health concern or condition, please consult a qualified Healthcare professional for more details. Check out herguru dot uk forward slash disclaimers Support the show Got feedback, a question, or a future episode suggestion? https://podcastfeedback.com/workstressanxiety Work Stress Anxiety by ABGW is part of HerGuru Hypnotherapy and Coaching™ and grounded in the ABGW Method®. Calm first. Reality first. Then change.™ Connect with Cheryl Paris LinkedIn: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/linkedin  Facebook: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/Facebook Shared stories are anonymised. This podcast is provided for educational and self- reflective purposes only and does not constitute medical, psychological, legal, workplace, or professional advice. Disclaimer: https://herguru.uk/disclaimers/ © Cheryl Paris. Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.

    What If The Real Burnout Starts At Home

  7. Oct 14

    Work Anxiety and Resentment As A Signal Of What Matters

    Guilt has a sneaky way of sounding like truth. One missed school game, one late night at work, one tense call with a parent, and suddenly the story becomes: “I chose wrong.” I sit down with Janice Goldmintz to challenge that story and to look at what guilt and resentment are really trying to tell us when life feels stretched thin. We start with resentment, including how it can show up after loss and inside everyday work stress. Janice offers a refreshing reframe: resentment often points to how much you care, not how little. From there, we zoom out to modern pressure, especially the always-on nature of technology and the social media “perfect life” performance that pushes working parents and caregivers into impossible standards. When you’re trying to be a strong professional, a present parent, and a supportive adult child to aging parents, anxiety is not a personal defect. It’s often a signal that the system around you is demanding too much. Then we get practical. We talk about fear of missing out, the habit of using guilt as evidence, and a simple sentence swap that restores agency: “I am making this choice in this moment.” Janice also shares a tool that sticks, E + R = O, event plus reaction equals outcome, and why that tiny reaction space can change your day. We end with an honest take on “no regrets” and a healthier big-picture approach to decision-making and self-trust. If this conversation helps, subscribe, share it with someone carrying too much, and leave a review so more people can find grounded support for work stress, anxiety, guilt, and work-life balance. Send us Fan Mail The contents of this podcast are for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. If you have a specific health concern or condition, please consult a qualified Healthcare professional for more details. Check out herguru dot uk forward slash disclaimers Support the show Got feedback, a question, or a future episode suggestion? https://podcastfeedback.com/workstressanxiety Work Stress Anxiety by ABGW is part of HerGuru Hypnotherapy and Coaching™ and grounded in the ABGW Method®. Calm first. Reality first. Then change.™ Connect with Cheryl Paris LinkedIn: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/linkedin  Facebook: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/Facebook Shared stories are anonymised. This podcast is provided for educational and self- reflective purposes only and does not constitute medical, psychological, legal, workplace, or professional advice. Disclaimer: https://herguru.uk/disclaimers/ © Cheryl Paris. Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.

    Work Anxiety and Resentment As A Signal Of What Matters

  8. Oct 13

    How To Balance Work Stress While Caring For An Aging Parent

    Caring for an aging parent can feel like a second full-time job, except you never applied for it and you can’t clock out. Cheryl Parris sits down with Janice Goldmintz to name what so many working caregivers struggle to say out loud: your mind is still “on call” when you’re at work, your attention splits in meetings, and vague support like “let me know if you need anything” can quietly add to your workload instead of easing it.  We dig into what’s really happening under the surface: decision fatigue, constant monitoring, and the pressure to look like you have it together even when you’re running on fumes. Janice shares why specific offers of help matter, what planning and preparation can change, and how caregivers can build support systems that make it easier to focus during the paid workday. We also talk about cumulative grief, why repeated losses can land like a ton of bricks, and how being “fine” for too long can crack into overwhelm.  You’ll hear a grounded take on why caregiving doesn’t follow neat theories, why every family and disease progression looks different, and why giving yourself grace is not a slogan but a survival skill. Before you go, we offer a simple practice to make the invisible load visible so it stops living only in your head. Subscribe, share this with a working caregiver, and leave a review with the one kind of support you wish more people offered. Send us Fan Mail The contents of this podcast are for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. If you have a specific health concern or condition, please consult a qualified Healthcare professional for more details. Check out herguru dot uk forward slash disclaimers Support the show Got feedback, a question, or a future episode suggestion? https://podcastfeedback.com/workstressanxiety Work Stress Anxiety by ABGW is part of HerGuru Hypnotherapy and Coaching™ and grounded in the ABGW Method®. Calm first. Reality first. Then change.™ Connect with Cheryl Paris LinkedIn: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/linkedin  Facebook: https://go.workstressanxiety.com/Facebook Shared stories are anonymised. This podcast is provided for educational and self- reflective purposes only and does not constitute medical, psychological, legal, workplace, or professional advice. Disclaimer: https://herguru.uk/disclaimers/ © Cheryl Paris. Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.

    How To Balance Work Stress While Caring For An Aging Parent
See All (168)

Trailers

5
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

Work Stress Anxiety is a weekday podcast for high-achieving women dealing with work stress, work anxiety, burnout and emotional exhaustion. Hosted by Cheryl Paris, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Stress Recovery Coach, it blends real stories, nervous-system education and practical strategies to help you understand what is happening under workplace pressure and what to do next. No resilience theatre. No pretending a breathing exercise fixes a dysfunctional workplace. Just practical, reality-first support for burnout prevention.

Information

You Might Also Like